


While You Were Sleeping

by startabby



Series: The Big Short Stories [8]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-20 01:37:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12422349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/startabby/pseuds/startabby
Summary: Pack bonding via shared trauma... aka, how Stiles becomes pack without even knowing about the SupernaturalThe Big Short Challenge Prompt: Survival





	While You Were Sleeping

**Author's Note:**

> Because when you start thinking about pack bonds, some of Peter’s actions in season one become more and more understandable.  
> Written for the Big Short Challenge on Rough Trade (http://www.roughtrade.org/)'s forum, which called for a 500-1000 word story given a one word prompt.

“Oh,” Stiles’ voice is soft and quiet. “I didn’t mean to bother anyone.”  
Poking his head into the hospice room, Stiles evaluates the new resident of his mom’s old room. Despite his open eyes, there does not seem to be any awareness in the heavily scarred face lying in the bed at the center of the room. Taking the silence as permission to enter, Stiles creeps into the room and curls up in the large chair beside the bed. The preteen is small for his age and his buzzed haircut emphasizes the abundance of moles scattered across his skin.  
Having reached a comfortable position, Stiles continues. “It’s just, I got used to coming here and talking to mom whenever I have a rough day, you know.”  
He hesitates. “Well, I guess you don’t know, huh.”  
“So, scar guy, why are you here in mom’s old room?”  
Stiles waits for a moment, but gets no response. In the absence of words from his silent companion, the boy continues his ‘conversation’. “I’m Stiles, by the way, Stiles Stilinski. Or at least that’s what I call myself instead of the name which shall not be spoken.”  
He giggles for a moment, before stopping. “That is, my real name is ridiculous so I just go by Stiles.”  
“I’m ten years old and my dad’s the Sheriff. Mom was a patient here for a long time, this was her room before she, well, she died. So now it’s just me and dad.”  
Stiles looks down at his hands, and then continues. “Dad tries, really, he just misses mom too much. He drinks all the time when he’s not at work and he’s always sad.”  
“Do you have a mom and dad? I mean, of course you do, but are they still alive? Maybe they come and visit you all the time. I don’t know, I think they would.”  
Looking around the room, Stiles notices that it is very plain and has no personal touches or indication of visitors. “Maybe not,” he continues. “Well, I’m here now.”  
He takes the backpack that he was wearing off and unzips it to pull out a book.  
“I have to read this for school, and I need to practice my out loud reading. I’ll start from the beginning, so you don’t get confused.”  
“Okay, Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit-Hole. Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting…”  
For the next several hours Stiles alternates between reading and telling Peter all about the hidden metaphors that Lewis hid in the story.  
“Dude, this guy liked to trash on the mathematicians of the time. It’s actually pretty funny when you realize that the entire book is basically trash talk wrapped in a fairy tale story. Lydia, my goddess, mentioned it in class so I’ve been looking it up online. Some of the math is actually pretty awesome.”  
Finally, a nurse looked in and noticed the boy.  
“Sweetie, visiting hours are almost up. You should be heading home.” Being new to the floor, she didn’t recognize Stiles. The boy scrambled up to his feet and shoved his book back in the bag.  
“I can come back right?”  
“Of course, you can visit your…” she paused for a moment. “Uncle?” Stiles nodded, accepting the title. “Your uncle anytime during visiting hours.”  
She looked down at the boy for a moment, before adding, “you know, people like your uncle can hear what’s going on around them, they just can’t respond. I’m sure he appreciates having such a wonderful nephew visiting him.”  
Stiles nodded enthusiastically. “I’ll be back again soon.”  
Deep inside his mind, the fury that held Peter Hale captive eased just a little. There was someone, maybe not pack but still someone who came to visit.  
And Stiles kept his promise, turning that lonely hospice room into his refuge and Peter into his non-responsive confidant. Peter heard all about Stiles’ father and his struggles with alcoholism, Scott and their epic bromance, Jackson’s bullying, the goddess Lydia Martin, and Stiles very real struggles with his identity and sexuality.  
Then one day it happened.  
A new nurse had been hired by the facility, one who was unaware of the officially unofficial visiting privileges between Stiles and Peter. Unbeknownst to the rest of the staff, this nurse was an ‘angel of mercy’, a serial killer who targets those whom they believe have no reason to continue living. This particular killer utilized a slow acting poison injected into her victims over a series of days to mimic a natural death. She had decided that Peter was going to be her next target.  
Stiles was making his usual drop-in visit on his way home from delivering dinner to his dad at the police station when he entered Peter’s room to find the new nurse giving him an injection.  
“What are you doing!?” he yelled. Like the inquisitive boy that he was, Stiles had kept up with Peter’s treatment regimen. He knew that no injections were on the schedule.  
“Just a little something for the pain,” the nurse tried to justify.  
“Nuh-huh, nope, liar,” Stiles interrupted.  
Peter’s wolf could smell the hostility and fear coming off his cub; he wasn’t losing the only pack that he still had. The wolf shoved its way out and into a half shift, jumping between Stiles and the nurse while looking like something out of an old fashioned horror film.  
“Holy…” Stiles started to exclaim before the nurse ran screaming from the room and wolf-Peter herded him into the corner furthest from the door.  
“Uncle Peter, is that you?”  
The wolf-Peter growled.  
“Okay, got it, no talking right now. But seriously, dude, you’re a werewolf. That’s awesome!”  
And as Stiles threw his arms around the wolf-Peter, the broken man finally acknowledged a simple truth. Despite everything, he’d survived.


End file.
